The international dutch chain of fashion retail, C&A has integrated Facebook’s real-time data and has brought it into the physical world. Essentially, C&A’s stores in Brazil have been putting “real-time like” counters on its hangers. The data is taken from C&A’s Facebook page where the company lists the clothing items for fans to interact with. The idea is built on the concept that you no longer need a friend to shop with to ask them “if this is good”. The problem with this though – in that an image online says nothing about the quality, the fit, or the fabric. (Which is why we see companies like Saks trying to address that problem by creating “Fashion in Action: Video Catalogs”.) So, if your in the retail store C&A, and spot an item that’s hanger has has only two likes from Facebook and but looks great in person- you’re bound to buy that item anyway. In which case, I guess you could use these real-time hangers to gauge your tastes: on how mainstream to how unique your fashion tastes are?

Anyways, I just thought this was pretty cool in taking real-time social media and bringing it to the next level.